Joe Biden's government filed a lawsuit on Tuesday (August 2) against an Idaho state law that bans virtually all abortions, its first legal action since the U.S. Supreme Court's U-turn on the right to abortion.
The Democratic president had denounced the judgment of the High Court of June 24, which buried the constitutional right of American women to obtain an abortion, and promised to do everything possible to defend access to abortions.
Although his room for maneuver is limited, his Minister of Justice Merrick Garland had set up a unit responsible for evaluating the laws adopted in the wake of this decision by the States opposed to abortion.
Idaho, a rural and conservative state in the American West, was among the first to adopt a new law, supposed to come into effect on August 25, which authorizes abortions only to save the life of a woman. pregnant.
Merrick Garland asked the court to block it, arguing that it violates a federal law on medical emergencies since it does not provide for an exception in the event of “
serious danger to the health
” of the pregnant woman and authorizes lawsuits against doctors.
According to him,
the treatment necessary to stabilize a patient in the event of a medical emergency
”.
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However, since the judgment of the Supreme Court, "
there has been a lot of information on postponements, delays, even refusals to treat pregnant women in a medical emergency
", he noted.
The American media gave the example of a woman whose waters broke in early pregnancy but who had to continue carrying the non-viable embryo until the onset of sepsis, or other who had not received medical assistance during a miscarriage.
On June 24, "
We pledged to work tirelessly to protect and promote reproductive freedoms, which is what we are doing today and will continue to do,
" said Merrick Garland.
A dozen states have already banned abortions on their soil and, eventually, half of the 50 states should do so.
A referendum on the subject, Tuesday in Kansas, will take the pulse of public opinion.